Tell God how much you love Him, even if you feel quite unloved during an anxious season. Sing a praise song as if it's the best day of your life, and not the worst. If anxiety rules your day, turn the tables on your stress. Could they have forgotten the innocent prisoner who sang at midnight? "Don't be anxious about anything. "Rejoice in the Lord always," Paul wrote. There must be a connection between what happened to Paul in Philippi on his first visit, and what he wrote to the believers there several years later. By morning, their wounds were clean, and the a revival was sweeping across the city. The bigger question: Why would God's missionaries sing praise to God under such conditions?īefore the questions could be answered, an earthquake shook the prison so perfectly, Paul and Silas were freed from their chains, but the prison didn't collapse upon them. So where was the miracle during the arrest, the humiliation, and the beating? Why had God let his missionaries sit in the rot of a prison dungeon all afternoon, and half the night? In fact, a miracle of God was what led to all the trouble. Paul had seen God's miracle-working hand before. Two men serving God were singing praise to God, on a day when God apparently took the day off. I've always found that passage of scripture nearly unbelievable. Their reaction to a really bad day? "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them." Acts 16:25 (HCSB) With their feet in stocks designed for discomfort, it made for a day when Paul and Silas needed encouragement about as badly as they ever had. Their wounds were fresh, and the dirt of the prison floor must have added to the torment. (Acts 16:22) When Paul and Silas regained consciousness, they were in the most secure portion of the Philippian jail, surrounded by prisoners. He and Silas were arrested, stripped of their clothes in front of a crowd, and brutally beaten. When Paul first visited Philippi, it didn't take him long to find trouble. If you'd like to experience the peace God offers. And it's the satisfying answer in our chase for contentment, for the ability to actually enjoy life. It's the peace that comes when we avoid impure actions. It's the solution for the pursuit of peace. Thankfully, that's also the moment you might realize that encouragement like that is actually available!The peace that passes all understanding is one of the most precious forms of encouragement that God has ever given us.
What about the day when attitude won't carry the day? What of the day when life's circumstances are simply overwhelming? That's when you need encouragement the most. I am so grateful you sent me to this territory. I'm coming home." The other man wrote: "This is a wonderful country. Or what of the two men who were sent by a shoe manufacturer to a remote country to sell shoes? One wrote back: "I have terrible news. He nudged his friend and said, "Jed, wake up! We're rich!" That's a pretty good attitude! Their eyes were flaming and their teeth were bared. One night, as they camped in a clearing, Sam awoke to find more than 50 wolves surrounding the camp. Day and night they looked for their $5,000 wolf, but they couldn't find him. Each live wolf brought into captivity would bring $5,000! That turned two men, Sam and Jed, into fortune hunters. In part of this country in the 1980s, when wolves were in danger of extinction, there was a special bounty offered for wolves caught alive. Scriptures: Philippians 4:4-13 Introduction
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